Nebraska City Station Unit 2

Nebraska City Station Unit 2 began operating in July, 2009.

In 2005, the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) began construction on Nebraska City Station Unit 2, a 660-megawatt coal-fired power plant located next to its Nebraska City Station 1, southeast of Nebraska City. The plant will burn coal from the Powder River Basin. Half of generated electricity will be used by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), and the other half will be sold to public utilities in Nebraska, Missouri and Minnesota.

Project Details
Sponsor: Omaha Public Power District Location: Nebraska City, NE Capacity: 660 MW Projected in service: 2009 Status: Operating 2009

Employment
A 2011 Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies report, "A Fraction of the Jobs" found that coal-fired power plants underestimate jobs by more than half. The analysis looked at the six largest new coal-fired power plants to come online between 2005 and 2009, including Nebraska City Station Unit 2, and combed through each project’s initial proposals and job projection data, including public statements, published documents and other material. They then compared hat data to actual employment — before, during and after construction — in the areas where the projects were built, relying chiefly on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

They found that only a little over half - or 56 percent - of every 1,000 jobs projected, appeared to be actually created as a result of the coal plants’ coming online. In four of the six counties, the projects delivered on just over a quarter of the jobs projected. Only one county, the Walter Scott unit number 4 project in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, saw an increase in construction employment that was roughly commensurate with the numbers predicted before the project there got under way.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Nebraska and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)